Justice Ginsburg in hospital, but expected to be released soon

[November 25, 2019]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in a Maryland hospital after suffering from chills and a fever, but is expected to be released on Sunday, the Supreme Court said on Saturday.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in a discussion hosted by the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 12, 2019. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger./File Photo

Ginsburg has faced several health scares over the past year, including in August, when she underwent radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer.

Ginsburg, 86, began experiencing the symptoms earlier on Friday. She went to a hospital in Washington before being transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for more evaluations and treatment of any possible infection, the court said.

But the justice's symptoms have abated after antibiotics and fluids and she is expected to be released from the hospital on Sunday morning, the court said.

Ginsburg is the oldest justice on the court. Her health is closely watched because a Supreme Court vacancy would give President Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint a third justice to the nine-member court and prod it further to the right.

Last December, Ginsburg had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung, and has previously been treated for pancreatic cancer in 2009 and colon cancer in 1999.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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